TAROTFour of Pentacles
Upright
A fixation on the material world, or emotional insecurity.
An emphasis on material gains and wealth, or emotional possessiveness, or being guarded in your dealings.
Resistance to change or inertia, caused by ‘only doing what worked in the past’.
Intuition
The figure on this card is one of the most well-known ‘rich but not really rich’ people from mythology – King Midas.
The card shows how happy a man who can have as much gold as he wants can be!
The leopard in the foreground is an animal associated with the God who granted the ‘golden touch’ – Dionysus.
Reversed
Coming to terms with old misconceptions over material greed or emotional insecurity.
Moving to a healthier relationship with wealth or a more mature emotional relationship with others.
Being more generous to yourself and others when it comes to sharing (both financially and emotionally).
Astrologia
Ambition coupled with strategic thinking and planning. A strong sense of self and personal goals that gain strong rewards. Can be too materialistic and an inpatient perfectionist, or reluctant to share the rewards.
Four of Pentacles
The Four of Pentacles signifies a fixation on wealth. Wealth can be for noble reasons (such as securing a future for yourself and loved ones), but simply hoarding and coveting wealth for its own sake rarely ends well, and is the subject of the upright card.
It signifies an emotionally miserly or possessive nature.
The card represents a lack of flexibility in your thinking. This rigidity prevents forward-thinking in anything other than acquiring more wealth, something which is famously illustrated by the characters on the card.
King Midas
The historical King Midas was a king of Phrygia in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). The ruins of his capital city, Gordion, remain visible near Ankara.
Midas’s story (recorded in Ovid’s Metamorphoses) begins with him returning Silenus, the foster father of Dionysus, to the god. Midas showed exceptional hospitality to the wandering, lost Silenus (a common state for a god of wine-making and drunkenness). For this great favor, Dionysus grants Midas a choice of any gift.
The quick thinking (but materialistic) Midas asks ‘Make it so that whatever I touch with my body, turns to yellow gold’. Dionysus reluctantly accepts, and ‘gave him the harmful gift, sad that he had not asked for anything better’.
The king becomes rich yet profoundly unhappy. The golden touch transforms everything to cold metal, destroying things far more valuable than gold.
Midas prays to Dionysus to lift what he now realizes is a curse. The God obliges by telling Midas how to break the wish.
The story ends with Midas learning a hard but useful lesson.
Description and Symbology
King Midas sits on a pile of gold. He looks unhappy, realizing his absolute power over the material world is a prison rather than a prize.
None of Midas’ subjects would agree with him more than his wife, who stands transformed behind him.
A rose that has been transformed into gold sits at the bottom of the card, implying that the flower was far more intricately beautiful when it was not gold. You can literally no longer wake up and smell the roses if they have all being turned to gold.
We see four pentacle coins, with two at King Midas’ feet, and two held by his Queen.
His city looms in the background. He is the richest king in the world, yet he can no longer enter his own domain without killing his subjects. They might pity or fear him, but they do not love him.
Finally, we see a leopard sat in the foreground. The leopard is associated with Dionysus (the God who granted the ‘golden touch’), and we can imagine this one actually is Dionysus as he looks on in disappointment.
The wealthy man
The rich man – King Midas – sits on a pile of gold. He is alone and outside the city, representing a warning that riches that you do not share with loved ones (or use to positively affect others) makes you poorer. His crown and clothes makes him look comical rather than dignified, suggesting money does not buy everything.
All that glisters is not gold
The above title is a quote from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Sometimes the quest for gold must be weighed up against what you will lose by working for it, or that the riches themselves may not be as valuable as originally considered. King Midas clearly lost more than he bargained for when those he loved were turned to gold!
Spirituality
The leopard is Dionysus, representing the divine. It is important to weigh up the quest for fame, riches, and the development of your bank balance with the development of you as a person. If wealth fundamentally changes your core spiritual journey and inner goals, then you have probably lost your way. A harsh truth, but no less true for it!
Tips for Readings
The following table shows the upright and reverse meanings for general questions. The last row ('Yes/No') is useful when you are picking a single card to decide a yes or no decision.
Upright
Reversed
This card warns for caution. This is not a good card for relationships!
For existing relationships, this card predicts a bumpy period. Expect possessiveness, jealously or a need for more support than usual. The root cause may be old arguments resurfacing, wider family issues, or one partner requiring more back-up from the other because of issues in another area of life (such as career).
For new relationships, there may be issues coming from a previous relationship; the new person in your life has not let go and may be on a rebound.
For existing relationships, there will be a new start or reset within the relationship. Old wounds or arguments will heal, and any past hurts will be forgotten. This is a good time to move forward together, but most importantly, to learn lessons from the past, as you now have good reasons to understand each other much better!
For new relationships, this card is a good sign. Lessons have been learnt previous to this relationship, and a new start and clean slate is wanted by one or both sides of the relationship.
For people in long term employment, this card points to being comfortable, but there has been no movement in career. You may love the paychecks but hate the job.
There may also be a sense of hoarding information and skills and not sharing to maintain position.
For new careers, this card suggests a feeling of being guarded and sticking to what you know. You may be feeling insecure or have impostor syndrome. This will pass with time as long as you recognize it and open up, asking more questions and integrating yourself within the team.
This is a great time to break old patterns and start anew in a career, especially if your old career was well paying but ultimately boring because it became the same year of experience over and over.
This may be caused by a better understanding of income vs. job satisfaction and taking more forward-looking leaps.
It may also be a case of having money in the bank and now using it to do more of what excites you rather than just the money.
For those looking to move job or start somewhere new, this is a good time. You have learned from past mistakes and are ready for a new adventure.
You are being possessive of material gains, or emotionally possessive, or not letting go of the past.
Whatever it is, this is causing you at least mental stress and unhappiness, and may also be causing physical discomfort in the long term.
If you carry on this way, you will end up with a destructive ‘them vs. me’ mentality!
It is time to rethink and maybe smell the roses a little more.
You will gain insights that lead you to shed self-defeating beliefs and emotions from the past, especially those concerning jealousy, greed, or emotional injuries.
You are ready to move forward with a more positive step.
Although not directly related to health, this change in attitude will do wonders for you!
Wealth can be a good thing – it frees us to reach our goals and broaden our horizons. But, a sure red-flag that wealth has led you spiritually astray happens when the goals and direction you had before you were wealthy change fundamentally after you become wealthy. Make sure it is still you talking and not the money!
You have learned from past mistakes on wealth and money, or with your emotions, and the lessons have given you a healthier attitude towards the balance between wealth and other factors of your life. You are also more comfortable in your own skin and are less emotionally reliant or prone to swings of emotion.
This is one of the few areas where the upright card may be positive. You will amass wealth, but be careful that it is what you want, and don’t dwell on wealth as a goal in itself. If you use it to enrich your life rather than to rule your life and social status, this can be a good sign.
This can also be a good card for those who are going through financial difficulties. It suggests being careful with your finances will get you through your current dilemma.
You have a good balance between wealth and security vs. enjoying the fruits of success and using them to expand your world.
Strive to be neither a hoarder nor over generous people-pleaser. Having the confidence to be yourself and be accepted by others as such is always priceless.
No. You are too focused on the material aspects of life, or are in an emotionally charged time and unable to make long-lasting decisions.
Yes, because you are learning from past mistakes or turning a corner to a better relationship with your money or relationship with others.
Reading the Card
The Upright Card
The upright Four of Pentacles represents hoarding material possessions. It can point to being guarded, clingy or possessive in emotional terms. It can mean simply not sharing anything with others.
The card warns that wanting wealth for its own sake guarantees problems, rarely ending in happiness. You risk becoming King Midas: lonely, lost, and feeling short-changed upon discovering that becoming richer has left you poorer.
Use your wealth with purpose. Employ it to enrich your life, rather than as a status symbol or a crutch to elevate yourself above others.
Be prudent and wise in your spending rather than frivolous on empty luxury that do not enrich your life, because anything that expands your horizons is far better than anything that expands your waistline or ego.
Anything that expands your horizons is far better than anything that expands your waistline or ego.
If you believe you use your wealth to help those you love, ask yourself: are you using it to help them grow, or using it as a 'carrot on a stick' to make them dependent on you?
When a reading concerns emotion, the Four of Pentacles shifts its emphasis from material to emotional hoarding. The card points to a partner becoming too possessive or jealous. If both partners engage in this behavior, it reveals a toxic relationship based on mutual materialism or shallow aims, rather than care. It denotes an inability to let go of the past emotionally. In extreme cases, it highlights infidelity or a self-serving hidden agenda.
For career and communication with others, the card points to being guarded and trying to maintain your position rather than moving forward or collaborating.
The Reversal
The reversed Four of Pentacles means you are coming to terms with your relationship to wealth:
- Recent or soon to occur events will show you the importance of budgeting and of wealth as an enabler in your life that you might have wasted in the past. Bad past investments or a job loss can be hard, but they are certainly good teachers. Remember, the Minor Arcana cards are short term cards, so the problems will soon pass.
- Moving from a materialistic view to one that now sees wealth as something that should be used to expand your happiness, rather than a prize of success to be hoarded.
- Sharing your financial or material successes more, in a way that makes you happier.
For emotional questions, the Reversed card points to moving away from emotional possessiveness. It signifies turning the corner on a failing partnership to build a deeper relationship, or finally moving on from a painful emotional past.
For career and communications, the reversed card suggests you have learned to open up and share more, or have learned from past mistakes and failures. You may be ready for a new career or a move.
Card Design Process
The aim was to show a glum King Midas, looking extremely deflated at the moment he realizes his wish is a curse.
Slight but significant changes were made to make Midas look as much of a figure of ridicule as he actually is in the story; the oversized crown, the look of surprise on the Queen’s face and the comedy frown of King Midas, as well as his body language that shows the transition from joy to acceptance and defeat.
The secondary aim was to include a curious, disappointed Dionysus without detracting from Midas. Showing the god as his archetypal animal (the leopard) achieved this perfectly. As any cat owner knows, nothing shows deadpan disappointment better than a feline.
Final Words
The Four of Pentacles signifies a fixation on material gains as a goal in itself. Wealth can be gained for noble future reasons, such as to enrich the lives of yourself and your loved ones. Simply hoarding and coveting wealth for its own sake is called greed.
